President Obama Responds To Texas Mass Shooting

As America is left reeling from the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas, many feel empty with only the tepid response offered by Donald Trump from the Japan leg of his 5-country tour of Asia. Trump, of course, can’t return home, nor does anyone expect that he’d even bother to leave his own golf course, if that’s where he was instead of relaxing after a round today with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

But America needs comfort when a tragedy like this strikes, and none in recent memory have been able to offer it quite like our last President, Barack Obama.

Rather than simply sending “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and families of those affected by today’s shooting, President Obama understood the need to be proactive to prevent disasters like the one perpetrated today by a gun-loving terrorist from happening in the future.

It was with this in mind that he tweeted late Sunday evening,

We grieve with all the families in Sutherland Springs harmed by this act of hatred, and we’ll stand with the survivors as they recover…

President Obama understands that we need to tackle not just the violence in our society, but the tools that make acting on it so easy, fast, and destructive.

Obama and the Democrats in Congress acted quickly to try and pass legislation that at least would have universalized background checks after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown Connecticut just five years ago. They were blocked by Republicans in every effort, as they most generally are.

The stranglehold of the NRA on American politicians in the Republican Party continues to thwart any genuine efforts to take on gun violence, and the answer from the crowd that favors the Second Amendment over even the First seems to always be that we need more guns.

Thankfully, we have sane voices like President Obama that surface in our time of need to help us understand, cope with, and plan against tragedy like today’s.

Featured image via Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

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Written by Andrew Simpson

Andrew hates long walks on the beach, glitter, and men's rights activists. He can usually be found with his long-suffering wife, who can usually be found asking him to please not order onions on that burger, babe.